GO-AHEAD ELEMENT OF DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE: SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESIDENTS IN BENIN

The domestic architecture of a traditional settlement is greatly influenced by the socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics of its residents. Benin City which is the focus of the paper is a case of a traditional settlement undergoing domestic architectural evolution with the changing times influenced by factors of growth and development. The paper has examined the effect of socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics as factors that partly determine the design, style, pattern, space use, organization, location and meaning as well as land use of the domestic architecture of Benin. The study employed the use of questionnaire administered to residents across the cross-section of the city. In the end, descriptive frequency tables were used to analyse the data collected from the residential zones in Benin. The research has been able to corroborate the theory that socio-economic and socio-cultural factors are some of the determinants/elements of domestic architecture of a place.